Lifeless
by Yozshand
Summary: Much has been lost from the annals of history since Heaven's Dark Harbinger fell to the planet over two millenia ago. Now the facts once considered lost are being told, adding new perspective to the Ancients and their Calamity.
1. Prologue

**A/N**

Hi there! First off, I would like to thank you for choosing to read my fanfic. This is my first fanfic that I've ever been serious about writing, so I encourage criticism and comments galore! :D

I apologize if this isn't so much of a fanfic as it is just fiction in the beginning. I based it in the final fantasy 7 world, but I've played with the lore to show the distortion of history (Giving things different names, leaving certain things like the Promised Land out altogether... stuff like that). At the beginning, you'll probably be going "wth?", but I promise that it makes more sense as a fanfic later on. Trust me. :) Also, this story begins some time before Jenova collides with the planet. Beyond that, I'm going to leave the rest to the story :)

Oh, just a little about the way my chapters are divided: Each of the chapters in this story will be pretty long, so I'll be dividing them up for the convenience of my readers. For example, my first chapter is broken into three individual sections to make it easier to leave off and come back later. I'm not sure if this is a good concept or not, so feel free to let me know via PM. I hope you enjoy reading my story as much as I do writing it!

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Prologue:

The child looked up at its mother from her bed. This was her favourite time of the day – the time when everything else could be forgotten and the mind was free. Story time. Mommy never read from a book, preferring to make the stories up as she went along. At least, most of the times she made them up.

The child – Winny by name – loved her mother's stories because they were always different. Most kids her age were told stories from books that people from all over the world wrote. Winny didn't envy them, her mommy's stories were always better anyway. Sometimes mommy would let one of her friends come over and listen to her stories, but that didn't happen tonight.

Winny's mother looked different today, a dark shadow was cast over her otherwise happy features. Being only seven, Winny couldn't really understand what was wrong, but she asked anyway. "Is everything okay, mommy?" She asked in a child's tone of worry, to which her mother replied "I'm fine, Poppy." She sounded tired.

Still, Winny accepted her mother's lie as easily as she ever did and moved on to the next subject. "So what story are you going to tell me today, mommy?" Winny's mom looked distant, staring at the wall above her daughter's bed. Mommy never did this. This was something new. Maybe she was just thinking up a new story. Things had been pretty busy today with the store, so she probably didn't have time to think up a story.

"Mommy?" Winny tried again after a few minutes. This time her mother looked down and smiled.

"I'm sorry, Poppy, I was just thinking about what kind of story that I would tell you tonight."

Winney gave a triumphant, "I thought so!" and looked up at her mother. She was staring again, this time down at the covers over Winney's little body. Her daughter was beginning to get worried. She never stared like this before, as if she were looking through what she was actually staring at. Some other people did that, but it was mostly the weird men and women. Her mommy never acted like that.

"Mommy...?"

Her mother snapped to and smiled again, "Sorry Poppy. Still thinking some more. This is going to be a good story, I promise."

"Yay!" When her mommy said that stories were going to be good, they were good. When the stories were good she remembered almost every word and ran them over through her head the next day while in school or doing chores. "So what's it about?"

"Do you know about the Ancients?"

Winney wrinkled her nose for a moment and thought. She didn't pay much attention in school, but she was pretty sure that her teacher had told the class about the 'Ancients' once. Slowly she replied, "They were the people who lived a looooong time ago, right?" That was about the extent of her knowledge.

"That's right, Poppy. Tonight I'm going to tell you a story about the Ancients, a story that, unlike the others I tell you, really did happen." Her mother said that a few times before, but they always seemed too amazing to be real. She had never told a story about the ancients before. "There is one thing that I would like you to do for me though, Poppy. I want you to never forget this story. You can forget every other story that I ever tell you, but this is one of the ones that you can't. Like the story of AVALANCHE working to save the planet from Sephiroth, this is a story that has made us what we are; made our world what it is. You can do whatever you need to do to remember it, but it has to be remembered. Later, when you're older, I want you to write a book about it and share it with the world so everyone will remember."

"Why don't you write the book, mommy?"

"I..." Her mother's eyes clouded over and took on that stare again, "I just can't, Poppy. You... wouldn't understand."

"But Mommy, I wanna understand!"

"Until you are older, Winny, you won't understand." She stared for another minute, shuffled her feet, and then began.


	2. Chapter 1: Part 1

Chapter 1

"This is insane, you realize that!" Arisa cried, her words whipped away by the wind.

"I know," was Kaji's response as he looked down at the dizzying drop.

"You don't care, do you? You could get killed. KILLED!"

"We all have to return to the planet some time, don't we?"

"That's ridiculous! I forbid you from doing this!"

"Funny... that's what the rest of the elders said too," then he jumped.

The entire clan gasped in awe and more than one rushed to the edge to watch Kaji plummet to his death. He had nearly died once already attempting this stunt, but he swore it would work this time. He said that the planet didn't want him dead yet, and that he had bigger things ahead of him. Arisa and Rattan knew that he was full of it, and so did the other elders and the rest of their clan. The elders even went so far as ordering him not to do it. It didn't matter. It never did with Kaji.

Arisa turned away, unable to watch her best friend plummet to his death. Rattan watched on, even stuck his head over the thin ledge. It was something that he had promised Kaji he would do.

A long, drawn-out "Wooooooo!" echoed up from somewhere far down the cliff, and Kaji sprang into view. "He made it!" came a cry, and Arisa rushed to the edge next to Rattan. The contraption that he had been working on for over two months of travel, acquiring materials where and when he could, actually worked. He must have learned from his first near-death experience and made it properly the second time around.

He zipped through the air like a bird, howling with excitement the whole way. The wind kept him aloft for over a full three minutes before he touched down. He was nearly eight hundred spans down, and had to climb the whole way up. The nearest trail up the cliff was over two days away.

"You know... I'm still curious about why he did this now instead of waiting," Rattan mused to himself as he watched Kaji's procession back toward the cliff. "I mean, now he has to climb the cliff with that thing on his back. Wouldn't it have been easier to wait two days?"

"Kaji's impatient. He probably would have exploded with excitement had we asked him to wait two more days to test out his Eagle's Wings." Arisa was watching him trudge along far below with a bemused smile. She called out to him, "Good job Kaji! You're going to want to hurry though, dinner might be gone by the time you get back!" Kaji simply waved in response.

Arisa turned to Rattan, "He's going to be in a foul mood when he gets back up here."

A derisive "Yep," was Rattan's only response.

They watched until Kaji was out of sight then returned to the camp. The rest of the clan had watched only to see if Kaji would get his fool self killed or not. Since he hadn't, it was right back to work for them. There was always work to be done around camp. Cooking, sewing, making tools, hunting, mending, learning... the list went on and on. The most important jobs belonged to the elders of the clan – those who could best hear the Planet and could tap into the life stream most readily. Their job was to cultivate life wherever they went in order to help keep the Planet alive.

Arisa was one of said elders despite having just passed her weaning. She could hear the Planet clearer than most anybody in her tribe, save Palin. Palin was an elderly man with a fatherly bearing and an absentminded nature; absentminded because he was almost always listening to the planet. He had received many offers from the grand elders in Tomoria, the great capital on the northern continent, to join them but had refused them all. "Clan Osic," he always told them, "is my home. I could not bear to leave my people; they are my family."

The Grand Elders didn't like it and often ordered him to join them in Tomoria. Palin often told them to stuff their orders in their ear and continued on with his ways. That was where Kaji inherited his disregard for authority – his disregard for custom was his own. Kaji had none of his father's talent when it came to hearing the Planet, but his mind was sharper than a needle. The many things the boy conceived were absolutely astounding, and many worked without any form of magic at all! Like his new 'Eagle's Wings'. Nobody could figure out how to soar like a bird without the use of magic no matter how hard they tried, and then Kaji thinks it up in less than three months! The Grand would be flabbergasted to hear of this.

The camp was abuzz when Arisa and Rattan returned and went to their duties. Despite their airs of not caring that Kaji had solved flight it could be seen in the excited quickness of their movements that they were all anxious to talk to him about it. Arisa was too, though she wouldn't ever admit it to Kaji. Inflating his head any larger than it already was would be another way to solve the issue of non-magical flight.

It was around midday when the unease began to settle in. At the first hint of it on the wind Palin called a meeting of the elders. Though they spoke for over an hour none of them could discern the nature of the feeling. The Planet's speech was too garbled for any of them to understand. There came a rumble from the earth during their meeting, and the garbled noises changed tone, but it was still not understood. Such rumblings were common along this cliff.

It was only that evening as Arisa was beginning to put an ostrich breast on the fire that it suddenly became clear.

The understanding sent Arisa sprinting toward the cliff, crying Kaji's name the whole way. It couldn't happen now. Not now. And yet it was – and it did. Just as Arisa reached the cliff and Kaji's head appeared over the edge, with a particularly haunted look on his face, it struck. The ground rumbled as the fault line shifted violently. Arisa was jolted from her feet and the whole face of the cliff fell away, sweeping Kaji with it.

"Kaji, no!" Her scream was drowned out by the immense rumbling all around her. The ground seemed to be trying to rip itself apart as the Planet stretched and shifted into a slightly more comfortable position.

Then Rattan was there, rushing toward the crumbling remnant of the cliff, then past her and sliding over the edge with the debris. A startled, "What are you thinking?" was all that Arisa could manage. It was almost too much to bear. She was going to lose both of her best friends to the same incident.

_No, be strong._

She turned and observed the camp in the state of a kicked anthill. Several of the tents, oil-treated cloth stitched with ostrich feathers, had collapsed into the fires and were fully ablaze. The people of the camp were running madly to try to douse the flames, but the floating cinders and wind were quickly spreading the flames. Soon it became a mad dash to save what could be saved and leave the rest to be consumed.

Arisa couldn't remember when the shaking had stopped, but she found her body stiff and sore as she did her best to help quench the flames. There was little water in the area, only a small spring that served for a few days out of the year, and that could not be wasted. Once everything was cleared the clan began to use dirt and earth magic to suffocate the flames.

Finally, after losing twenty tents and seven lives, with another thirty wounded in some way or another, the burning ceased. Arisa's watery gaze strayed to the cliff, now several lengths closer than before, and she added two more to the death toll with a heavy heart.


	3. Chapter 1: Part 2

Kaji was too elated to be put down by the climb back to the top. Sure, he had nearly died again in this attempt when the latch on the right wing refused to let go, but he had soared like the birds without the help of magic. That was all that mattered.

Well, maybe not soared – he was still a long way from that. He had certainly mastered gliding though.

He looked up to the top of the cliff and saw Rattan and Arisa watching him walk back to the cliff face. Arisa shouted something that was torn apart by the wind, so he answered with a wave. Then they were gone. That hurt a little, but it wasn't like he expect them to actually sit and wait for him. They had work to do. Granted so did he, but he was hoping that his new marvel would give him some slack for the day's chores.

The wings on Kaji's back weren't very heavy so they hindered his climbing only slightly. He knew that the cliff would only take him a few hours at best. He was an expert rock climber. As a child he had whittled away many of his spare hours on the face of a cliff. The other portion of his hours were spent trying to build fantastic inventions that were supposed to shock the world. None of them ever worked, not even close, but that never got him down.

It wasn't even midday when he was a little over half way up the cliff face. At this rate he was going to be back well before supper.

Clinging confidently to the rock face Kaji turned his head and looked out at the gently rolling hills behind him. There was a forest in the distance, a forest that was said to be haunted by spirits who had offended the planet and were not allowed to return. It seemed like a ludicrous idea that the Planet wouldn't allow any of its children to return once they perished. Still, parents used that threat quite often when their children were doing something they didn't like.

Kaji smirked and turned to go back to climbing, but something on the cliff face caught his eye. A short distance to his left there looked to be a cave of some sort set into the face of the cliff.

Never one to shy away from any adventure Kaji expertly picked his way across the face to the cave. The sun's position was too high in the sky to provide any proper illumination beyond the first few lengths into the cave, but Kaji wasn't deterred. Calling on what little of the magical ability he had, Kaji produced a flame about the size of a candle's in his palm. With his other hand he drew the short spear that had been fastened beneath his Eagle's Wings and proceeded forward.

From what Kaji had seen of caves this one looked ancient. In some places the stalagmites and stalactites touched and created living pillars that held the cave up. It also didn't branch, which was peculiar for a cave of this size. A crust worm had probably made this cave in the aeons past, but they were long extinct and only recorded in the oldest of books.

Books. Those were something that Kaji couldn't understand. Why would anyone ever want to learn something from a book when they could go out and learn it for themselves? Arisa often chided him because he never payed attention in school and was unable to read or write. A page of cetra was something he could never hope to decipher, and yet any schematic that he happened to stumble upon could be understood almost instantly.

Schematics were different from books. They gave you the framework and you built around that, making improvements where you saw fit. It never occurred to Kaji that schematics were supposed to be followed exactly.

His idle musings while wandering through the cave were cut short when he noticed that he had let his flame die long ago, and yet he could still see. There were crystals in the walls that were giving off a faint green light, and it seemed to grow brighter the deeper he went. "I can think of a hundred uses for these. If only I could..." He started to pry at one of the crystals on the wall.

It came loose with a soft snap that echoed down the tunnel. He deposited the crystal into his pocket and pried another loose, then another, putting the other crystals in his satchel. Every few spans he pried another of the crystals from the walls, though they were getting progressively harder to pull out. When he finally couldn't get any of the crystals around him to budge, he sat down for a break. Digging through his satchel he found a few strips of dried ostrich and ate while observing the crystals around him.

The only question that kept coming to mind was: "Why are these here, and not anywhere else?" He couldn't think of an answer, but he knew that they could be very useful. A portable light source that didn't require magic! Not that there was much use for one, but he had still discovered it!

Kaji continued toward the light source after his meagre lunch. It kept getting brighter and brighter, and soon he found himself squinting against the light until, finally, he emerged into a massive cavern. The walls of the cavern looked as if they were made of solid, glowing crystal. Even though he was several hundred spans from the sunlight it was as bright as day in the chamber, almost uncomfortably so.

He set the spear down and walked around the room, staring in wonder at the glowing walls and floors all around him. He could feel the Planet here too! More powerfully than he had ever felt it before, as if he were standing right next to its heart and could hear it's faintest whisper. His senses were heightened. It was a beautiful place, a place that he never wanted to leave. It was like a utopia for the senses.

Then he saw it. In the middle of the cavern was a luminescent pool that glowed even brighter than the crystal around it. Kaji approached cautiously, and the closer he went the more powerfully he could feel the planet. Soon he felt as if he were _inside_ the planet's core – one with it. Truly there couldn't be a more miraculous feeling in life.

He knelt down and touched the pool. It was burning and yet soothing at the same time. He couldn't tell whether he should remove his finger or leave it in. He plunged his hand in, and the soothing burn spread up his entire left arm. Soon he was submerged to the elbow, and then to the shoulder.

The feeling was alive in his whole body now; a feeling of euphoria so strong that he could have lay there until death and never known that he was dying. Distantly he registered that he was touching something, and idly wrapped his hand around it. The thing he was holding on to added a different sensation, one of unsurpassed knowledge.


	4. Chapter 1: Part 3

Slowly the euphoria began to fade and unease took its place. He heard the whispered grumbling of the Planet, a grumbling that grew louder. The feeling of unease grew stronger and he pulled his hand from the glowing pool, a walnut-sized glowing sphere in his grasp. Without thinking he plunged the sphere into his satchel and started to run.

He nearly stumbled over his forgotten spear as he moved to escape the growing unease within him, but hurried on without picking it up.

The unease didn't fade as he fled the cavern and down the tunnel. Even when he was stumbling through the blackness that was once devoid of anything but his idle thoughts the unease was still there, pressing against the back of his skull like a creature trying to escape.

He was running blindly, too distressed and distracted to remember to conjure his meagre flame to see by. Running blind as he was, he had no idea what was directly ahead of him and he ran into solid stone.

He bounced off the rock and landed on his back, his mind muddled and his nose broken. The feeling of unease had disappeared when his head hit the rock – a blessing, he thought. The feeling came back again, but so many times weaker that he hardly noticed it at all through the muddled feelings. He lay there for many minutes, his own groans of pain distant in his ears. Finally coming to enough sense he sat up, startled.

He had stopped groaning long ago, but the groaning never ceased. Rather, it had turned from distant groaning to a rumbling that could be felt in the rock beneath his feet.

The flame he conjured to see by was much bigger than the one he had conjured before. Now the fire engulfed his entire hand and provided the light of a bonfire, without the smoke. Kaji knew that he should find the sudden increase in his magical aptitude strange, but for some reason it just seemed to be a matter of course. This cavern was full of many strange things, and the fire was slowly decreasing in size and brightness.

He took up a brisk jog, hoping to make the very best of the light that was slowly fading from his hand. The air felt fresher, and before long he could feel the soft breath of wind on his face. Then, some distance down the tunnel, he could see the light of late afternoon. The groaning had faded long ago, and the feeling of unease was no longer present in the back of his mind. He had escaped, though he wasn't quite sure what it was he had been running from.

He happened, just by chance more than anything else, to look over his shoulder into the darkness of the cave. In the last flickering light of his once immense flame, he saw the rock of the tunnel move.

The groaning started again and the rumbling beneath his feet was immense. Kaji was frozen with shocked horror, unable to fathom what he had seen. The rock had moved. It had come to life, and it had moved! Something within him told him to run, to flee as fast as he could, but he could manage little more than a stumbling backpedal.

From the darkness a hulking hand of stone reached out and wrapped around his waist, tightening painfully and hefting him off the ground. Now the flight response kicked in, and he struggled and kicked with all he had, but he couldn't break free.

Two, glowing blue orbs flared to life before his face, bathing him in cool light and bringing an abrupt halt to his movements.

A smooth feminine voice spoke into his mind, "Little one, I do not wish to hurt you, I only want the stone."

"Stone? What stone?" Kaji was confused, he had no idea which stone the voice meant.

"The stone, little one, the stone that you plucked from the pool. Give me the stone, and you may go free."

He still didn't understand what stone the voice – likely belong to the blue orbs – was talking about. Replaying the last few... how long had it been? Days, hours, minutes? He had only eaten one meal that he could remember... so only a few hours then. Replaying the last few hours in the cavern through his mind, he could not recollect any stone of any importance, only a single crystal that he had plucked from the cavern wall. Nothing from a pool.

"You mean the crystal? I-"

"Yes, if that's what you think it is. The crystal, young one. Give it to me and you may live."

"It's in my pocket. You're going to have to... let me down."

"Very well child. Do not try to run. You will not escape me." The massive hand lowered Kaji to the ground.

He reached into his pocked and closed his fingers around the crystal that he had pried from the cavern wall. Something itched at the back of his mind, something telling him that this was not what the being sought. Ignoring the itch he produced the small crystal and raised it to the glowing eyes several lengths above him. "Here you go."

The light shed by the crystal illuminated the thing. It was made of solid rock and stood over nine lengths tall, it's shoulders nearly brushing the roof of the tunnel. It had one massive arm and two legs, each thicker than a tree trunk. The glowing orbs were set between its shoulders where a head normally would have been attached. He had never seen anything like it before.

The voice in his head grew angry "This is not what I seek, child. Give me the stone!"

Terror filled Kaji and he dropped the small crystal. "I don't know what you're talking about! I don't have any other stones!" Suddenly, his satchel felt very heavy.

"Then I'm afraid you will be returning to the Planet before your time," the voice cooed as the giant hand began to reach out.

"But I have no idea what you're talking about! Please don't kill me!" Terror. Sheer terror of the purest sort coursed through his body. The kind that could only be experienced when looking death in the eyes and having no defence against it. He raised his hands and started to back away. "No! I don't have your stone!"

The stone monster glided forward as if skating on ice, its hand starting to wrap around Kaji.

"No!" Then there was a bright flash of light, a brief crack, and a rumble from the cavern around him. When the after image cleared and he could see again the glow of the crystal illuminated a scorched pile of rocks where the monster once stood.

Kaji stood dazed, unable to comprehend what had just happened. Something had saved him from the stone thing, but he couldn't begin to fathom what.

In a dazed stupor he left the cave and began to climb the face of the cliff. His movements were robotic; muscles performing the proper action at the proper time. Kaji had once said that he could climb a cliff face in his sleep. In those moments, he put the truth to those words.

The smell of food roused him from his stupor and he realized that he was only a few lengths from the top. The sound of his name being called came shortly after. It was Arisa's voice. How she knew that he would be coming over the lip at this precise moment, he couldn't guess.

He stuck his head over the top of the cliff, and saw the worry on his friend's face just before the rumbling began and the cliff face fell away beneath him.

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**A/N**

This is the official end of the first chapter. If you're reading this, thanks for sticking with me so far! My next chapter is kind of slow, so I apologize in advance, but it's necessary, I promise!

Thanks again for reading! :)


	5. Chapter 2: Part 1

Chapter 2

Little sleep was gained that night. Some didn't sleep at all, and those who slept did not sleep well. How could they when the planet's speech seemed so edgy and discontent? It wasn't something that they all 'heard' exactly, but something that they felt. The planet's speech had been unintelligible since noon the previous day. Something had happened to greatly upset their mother, and each and every one of her children could feel it.

Pets and people alike were snappy as they cleaned up the ruins of the tents and salvaged what they could. Even the soft-spoken healers of the clan were in particularly foul moods as they tended to the wounded. The only person who did no seem to be tense was Palin. Instead, he seemed incredibly distraught.

He approached Arisa later into the night after the dead were taken care of and given their final rights, returning their bodies and souls to the planet. She was standing on the cliff near where Kaji and Rattan had fallen, her long brown hair blowing in the wind. Down below a mound of rubble nearly seventy spans deep could be seen in the wan moonlight.

"Kaji hasn't returned yet." Palin spoke as he moved to stand beside Arisa.

She turned a tear-streaked face toward him, "He was at the top of the cliff when the Planet shifted. He... he was just coming over the edge when it crumbled." Tears were running unheeded down her face.

"I was afraid that he had been caught in the rock slide. I do not think that he has perished though. I felt when my wife returned to the Planet, so I know I will feel it when he does as well." Palin's voice was full of hope tinged with despair and a single tear rolled down his cheek. Nothing could survive long after that fall. He expected to feel his son leave this world before the end of the night. "I haven't seen Rattan tonight either. Was he here when the ledge gave out?"

"No!" She sobbed loudly, "The damn f-fool went over the edge after ka-aji..."

"Did he now... What a foolish boy. Loyal, but foolish."

They stood in silence for a long time as the commotion in the village continued, looking at the rubble, the plains, and the moon, each occupied with their own thoughts.

Arisa's sniffles and sobs had died down by the time she asked: "Can't we go looking for them? I mean... it shouldn't be too hard with all of people we have, right?"

Palin heaved a sigh. "It would be too dangerous at night. Getting down the cliff face would be difficult at best, and nigh impossible with the poor lighting and the powerful wind."

"But we have to do something! We can't just leave them down there! For the Planet's sake, he's your son, don't you want to help him?"

Palin rounded on Arisa with a look that nearly drove her over the edge; a look that told her that she was a word away from being slapped. "Do not think that I would abandon my son so easily." His voice was full of the dangerous anger that burned in his eyes.

Arisa bowed her head, thinking it unwise to look him in the eyes, and softly muttered, "Sorry..."

Palin glowered at her for several more minutes before placing a surprisingly gentle hand on her shoulder. "It's alright. You just want to save the ones that mean the most to you. I understand. I desire nothing more than to go down there and dig my son out on my own, but I have other responsibilities to think about as well. Responsibilities that I simply cannot shirk on a whim. You should know this as well."

Arisa raised her head and sniffled, "I know. I just hate feeling so... helpless to save people."

"I know Arisa, I know."

Another stretch of silence opened between them, only to be broken a few minutes later by one of the hunters. "Elders," The voice came from behind them, "I am sorry to bother you while you are listening to our mother, but I thought I should inform you that Rattan is missing."

"I am aware," Palin spoke without turning around, doing his best to act displeased with the interruption.

"I though it would also be pertinent to inform you that the ostrich herd has moved on. Also, several of our chocobos escaped from the line during the chaos following the earthquake."

"Very well..." Palin sighed, "Have the villagers ready to move by noon tomorrow." Arisa looked at him in absolute shock, "The lost chocobos will be of no real consequence, given how much we lost to the fire..." Palin trailed off and said no more.

"Understood, Elder. I will have the villagers make ready." He departed hastily, not wanting to get caught up in the whirlwind of Arisa's anger.

Once the hunter was gone, Arisa unleashed her fury on Palin"You ca-"

"Before you start, remember what I said only minutes ago. I have responsibilities that I cannot shirk. I have to do what is best for the clan. It is not my place to go dallying off whenever I choose." His voice was smooth and calm, completely unafraid of the storm raging just to his left.

Arisa caught the particular emphasis on the word 'my' and understood his meaning. Still, she approached the question cautiously, "Would I be able to stay behind and search then?" In this instance it was much easier to ask for permission than beg for forgiveness.

"You may, and you may also keep ten men to help you search. Ten is all that I can spare. We have lost several beasts of burden, and we will need extra hands to carry the wounded and children." He turned to her and smiled. "You may take two days, but no longer. I will have somebody leave stakes with ostrich feathers tied to them in our wake so you can follow them back."

"No need. The path of a clan moving across the plains isn't hard to follow. Besides, you'll need every feather you can find in order to replace the lost tents."

Palin chuckled, "You're right, of course." He turned a wistful gaze toward the debris heap below.

"I'll bring him back, Palin. I promise." She gave him a comforting pat on the shoulder and a smile.

"I do not doubt you for a moment." Came his response as he turned away and returned to the camp, leaving Arisa to look down at the pile of rubble once more.


	6. Chapter 2: Part 2

A sharp cracking sound pierced Kaji's skull as he returned to consciousness. He immediately wished that he were unconscious again, and nearly became so, when the pain in his body registered. His left arm hurt more than the rest of his body. He didn't want to look at it – didn't want to see what was wrong. But he did anyway.

His left arm was mangled. His fingers were bent in ways completely unnatural to proper fingers. His wrist was swollen and badly bruised, and bone protruded from his arm in two places. Seeing that, his head swam and his stomach heaved, though nothing came out. Finally, he groaned.

"Ah, so you are alive." The baritone voice made everything hurt, as if it was causing his entire body to vibrate – like another earthquake. Some dirt drifted from above and landed in his eyes. Kaji cried out.

"It's just an aftershock mate, we'll be safe in here. Place is sturdy as... well... a rock. I built it myself." The voice didn't hurt that time. His eyes were tearing up to try to wash away the dirt. Kaji couldn't see who was talking to him, though he knew the voice should be familiar.

"Can you move your legs?" Kaji wiggled his left foot, the only thing that wasn't in excruciating pain, "Good! I was afraid that the fall had broken your back and left you paralyzed. Good thing you were climbing with that damned contraption on your back. It probably saved your life."

"R...Ra...Rattan?"

"Yeah, buddy. It's me." There came another crack that left Kaji wincing with pain.

"Could y-you please stop t-he cracking?" His tongue felt like lead.

"It has to be done. You know that I'm no good with healing magic. I'm making you a good old-fashioned splint. The kind we soldiers use on the field to set broken bones before bringing them back for healing. Granted, you wouldn't know about that – you're too busy playing with your toys to think about fighting."

"AAAAHHHHHH!" Kaji started sobbing when his arm was moved.

"Sorry, sorry. I'm almost done." Kaji screamed long after the process of putting the bones back into his arm, straightening his fingers, and setting the splints was completed.

Finally, the cries died down to sobs. "Man, you are such a baby. I've seen boys younger than you take worse without uttering a single cry. No wonder you're not a soldier, you're too much of a sissy." Rattan had no use for weakness. It was something bread into him by the small corps of soldiers that the clan kept. They worked mostly as hunters, but when the time came to defend the clan, they were fiercer and more vicious than most.

"I... sorry man. I don't mean it. I'm just not used to seeing people whimper like this. You understand, don't you."

Kaji coughed, causing shooting pain to run through his ribs. "Yeah," he said in a wheezy voice, "I got it. It's okay. I should be used to it by now anyway."

Rattan chuckled, "That you should."

They sat in silence for a while, Kaji gritting his teeth through another aftershock and Rattan idly whittled away at one of the remaining pieces of timber from Kaji's Eagle's Wings. Kaji faded in and out of a restless sleep several times, but kept waking up the moment a pair of glowing blue orbs appeared in his mind.

A question popped into Kaji's mind that seemed suddenly very important. "Rattan..." his voice was husky from lack of water, "how long was I out?"

"Not long. Only a few hours. It past midnight by now for sure."

"But... if it's still night... why is it so bright in here?"

"You should know. You were carrying our light source."

"I was... carrying our light source? No... I left that crystal back in the cave with the... thing."

"You have lots of crystals, bud. Lots and lots of them. And... there's one in particular that I need to talk to you about." He didn't seem to even noticed the mention of a 'thing'.

"The thing said it wanted... a stone. But I wasn't carrying a stone. I only had that crystal in my pocket."

"No man, you had a whole bag of them, with a very special crystal inside."

"You too? I... I don't have any stone or special crystal or -" A hand holding a perfectly round sphere of emerald with a deep luminescence appeared in his field of view.

"I'm pretty sure you do, mate." Rattan's tone was extremely grave.

"Wh... what is that? Why would some... rock creature want that?" His mind was moving sluggishly, unable to fit anything together.

"You must have hit your head harder than I thought." Kaji certainly felt like half the cliff had fallen on his head. "This is Lifestone, you idiot. Lifestone! Do you realize that if anybody caught you with this you would be strung up and left for dead? Only the leader of the grand elders is allowed to possess a life stone. And yet, here you are with one. What in the hells were you thinking?"

"I... I don't know what you're talking about. I never found any Lifestone in that cave. Just a hallway with glowing crystals..." There was a void in his memory – one filled with brilliant green light.

"Ohhh boy. It's no wonder the cliff tried to kill you. You walked into a cave, stole the stone, lied to and probably killed the guardian, and then tried to escape! By the Planet, I thought that you were smarter than that! You really don't pay any attention in school at all, do you?"

"I... I don-"

"Oh shut up. I'm sick of hearing your fool tongue wag. Why don't you go back into a coma and not come out this time. You would probably be doing us all a favour."

Kaji lay there in shock for several minutes, unable to believe what had just come out of Rattan's mouth."Rattan... why are you being so harsh to me?"

"Because I thought you were smarter than this, Kaji! I really thought that you had a brain between your ears, and that you wouldn't mess up this badly!" Rattan sighed, "Alright, look. The way I see it, you're pretty much buggered. It doesn't matter who's son you are, if you're caught with that thing, you're a dead man. If it were anything else, I would simply tell you to return it and act like it never happened. But... it's just not that simple."

"Wh... Could I get some water?" Kaji's voice was down to little more than a wheeze.

"Sure. You may be a fool, and a doomed one at that, but I'm not about to let you suffer any more than you already are. I am still your friend, after all." He squeezed a small stream from his skin of water into Kaji's mouth.

The water was probably the sweetest thing Kaji had ever tasted. He drank greedily and gulped it down, nearly choking. "Slowly, slowly." After a bit more, Rattan took the skin away.

His throat quenched, Kaji spoke again, "So... why can't I just go put it back?"

"Is your head still that fuzzy? The whole cliff face is gone! Your cave has no doubt collapsed, and you're in no state to walk much less take it back." Rattan's frustration was slowly burning off. There was no use being angry with Kaji, what was done was done. Now a solution was needed. Rattan had a solution that he didn't like, but it was the only one he could see.

"Why can't you take it back." It sounded very much like an accusation. Kaji really had no right to be accusing Rattan of anything, but the tone said more than the words ever could have.

If the tone hurt Rattan at all, he didn't show it,"If this crystal gets more than seven lengths from you it just kinda disappears and goes right back to your hand. Trust me, I tried."

"But then..."

"Yep, you're a dead man." It was stated with the coldness of fact. There was no malice, no hatred, no anger, nothing.

"There has to be a way!"Kaji's voice was desperate.

"Well... you could hide it. I'm not sure how you could ever hide something this bright, but you're smart enough to find a way. For your sake, I hope so."

Kaji was quiet for a few moments, thinking the matter over. His mind was clearer now that there was a problem to solve. His body hurt worse than ever, but that all seemed so distant right now.

"What then?"

"Well, you don't have many options, do you. You would eventually be found out, so running away is your best option."

"Running away?" Those two words carried such emotion that it stirred something within Rattan's heart. He felt sorry for his best friend. In one stupid action he had lost his family, home, friends... Kaji had just lost his life.

Rattan nodded gravely, "And never coming back. If you come back, you'll still be sent to death."

"I'm damned if I do, and doomed if I don't. Just... wonderful." There was a long pause, until Kaji finally broke out: "I-I never asked for this." He was beginning to sob again.

"For some reason, buddy, I believe you." For the first time since Kaji awoke, Rattan's voice was soft an comforting.

They were quiet for another few minutes, each silently pondering when Kaji broke the silence once more."Th-they'll come for us, right?" Kaji's voice had a particular whine to it that sounded of absolute hopelessness.

"You're Palin's son, of course they'll come." Rattan began to rustle and there was a great deal of clinking, probably packing up for when they were found. The last crystal light winked out and soon they were immersed in near complete blackness.

They weren't long in the darkness before dust began to sift down through the cracks in the roof. "Oh, and one more thing," Rattan whispered into Kaji's ear, "don't tell them about the other crystals either. Those can be found naturally in other places – we found a few when we were kids, remember? - but this many might cause them to get the wrong idea."

As he finished, sunlight stabbed their eyes as a hole burst open in the ceiling above. A head appeared, glanced around for the briefest of moments, then disappeared. A distant call of "They're in here!" came from above.

Rattan handed the satchel to Kaji. "Keep it close."


	7. Chapter 2: Part 3

A/N

* * *

"You're alive!" The voice was like honey sparkling in the sunlight. It was beautiful, and exactly what Kaji had hoped to hear. He had spent much of the silence brooding over the eventuality of never hearing the voices of Arisa or his dad ever again.

The former dropped down from the hole in the ceiling immediately following her words, face beaming and radiant. For the briefest of instance she looked as happy as a person could be.

That face faded to one of absolute fury the moment Rattan moved toward her. He started to speak but was cut short by one of the most powerful tooth-loosening slaps Kaji had ever witnessed.

"Arisa, I -"

"Shut up." For all of her happiness a moment ago, none of it was showing now. "You're a jackass, you know that?" Rattan tried to respond, but she simply slapped him again and turned her back.

She knelt at Kaji's side and the fury on her face turned to gentleness in a blink. "You alright?" She tried futilely to brush the dust and dirt from Kaji's face which was caked in a mixture of the two plus blood.

Kaji wasn't even aware of how bad he looked. The pain in his body had faded to an odd sort of numbness. "After having a cliff fall on me, I'm doing pretty well." Being strong was surprisingly easy while laying on your back completely unable to move.

There was an odd look of strain on her face as she looked at him, surveying the body which he had been unable to see for the last few hours. "Not being able to move sucks though," his attempt at humour fizzled and died the moment it was born. There was no humour in her manner – in anybody's manner. Kaji was suddenly very conscious of many pairs of eyes looking at him from the hole in the ceiling.

"Arisa...?" Rattan made his voice as small as possible.

"Go." Was all that Arisa said. Anything more would have been too difficult.

Without another word Rattan scrambled up the rope that was lowered down the hole. From up above there came the sound of grating stone followed by more drifting dust.

Another figured replaced Rattan clad in a healer's green-and-white garb. Kaji recognized the haggard looking old man as Ortun, the best healer in the clan.

"There's a lot of rock up there. It's going to take most of the day to move enough to get you out." Arisa explained as she looked him over, free to let tears draw lines in her dust-streaked face. She hated crying, it made her feel weak. She had been taught from a young age that crying never solved anything, but sometimes she just couldn't keep the tears back.

"What do you mean?" Kaji was slightly confused, "I actually feel pretty good right now." His entire body was numb to the pain, "I don't think I was hurt that bad beyond my arm."

Arisa put a single finger on his chest to prevent him from trying to sit up and forced a smile. "There's no need to be brave, Kaji. You know you don't need to be brave for me of all people. And I know Ortun won't say anything." For a moment her well of tears dried up.

"Really," Kaji's protest was genuine enough, "I feel fine!"

Arisa shook her head, long brown hair sending puffs of dust into the shaft of sunlight. "You... you're far from 'fine'..."

"Hmm?"

"Kaji... You're lucky you're alive at all," her pain reflected just how bad his injuries really were. "I'm no healer, Kaji, but I can tell you that pretty much every bone in your body is fractured or broken. You're..." She was beginning to sniffle and cry again, "covered in bruises and... y-you're laying in a dried pool of your own blood."

Pool of blood? Kaji hadn't even been aware that he was bleeding. After hearing the extent of his own injuries Kaji just lapsed into silence. There was nothing more he could say at this point. He shut his eyes against the drifting dust and before long started drifting.

"Kaji! Please, no. Don't go to sleep." Her voice sounded oddly distant to his ears.

"But why?" He asked lazily.

"Because I'm afraid you won't wake up again if you do!"

"Don't worry, I'll wake up again." what were intelligible words in his mind became a mumble the moment they left his lips.

"Kaji? Kaji!" He knew that the voice was calling his name, but he was too tired to respond. The blue eyes flared to life in his dreams, but this time he didn't wake up.

It was dark where Kaji was' but not the kind of darkness due to an absence of light. Rather, it was the darkness of a void where there was nothing to reflect the light from the stars that glittered all around him.

The only thing that was even remotely tangible in the void came in the form of two glowing orbs. He recognized them, but this time he didn't flinch. He tried speaking to them, to ask what it was they wanted and why they haunted his dreams, but no sound came out.

Then they were gone, and Kaji's surroundings shifted sickeningly – and then there was light.

It was a muted light with a copper tinge that came from an angry red ball set in a violet sky. The coppery light gave a deep brown hue to everything around him, making everything look dead and wilted.

Kaji clued in a moment later that everything was, in fact dead and wilted, and the brownish-orange cast only accentuated that. "What is this?" Kaji asked himself as he looked around.

The land before him was dead. Remarkably dead. Scraggly trees were placed at random across the landscape, mere dried-out husks of their former glory. Behind Kaji there was a cliff not much different from the one he had fallen from, only at the base there was a forest. Well, what would have been a forest, anyway. Kaji's surroundings shifted again.

This time he was at the base of the cliff with the gnarled and twisted branches above him providing some relief from the copper-toned glare. There was life around him, this time.

He could only assume that the starving figures ambling about or laying on the ground in exhaustion were like humans. They were scaly and bald with long fingers and large eyes. Everything else about them was remarkably like him. If they saw him, the fifty or so figures didn't show it.

He found himself speechless when he tried to open his mouth and converse with these people, so contented himself to wander amongst them.

It didn't take much wandering to realize what rough shape there people were in. They were starving, and the tiny spring near the middle of their 'camp' was nearly dry. Judging from the plains above there would be no food to find anywhere in this area, so the people were doomed to starve.

Then a figure sheathed in gold suddenly appeared on the edge of the camp. It radiated malicious intent, and the beastial face was slavering with delight. Kaji wanted to scream at the people, tell them to run, but he couldn't, and they couldn't either.

Instead of running, the people seemed to gravitate to the golden creature. Those who could stand helped those who couldn't, and eventually the entire group was arrayed before the beast. The beast slaughtered them, slathering the whole while. It did not feast though, but simply let the blood run from its crimson claws.

Then, right before Kaji's eyes, the figure changed. It became a masculine-looking maiden radiating a deep green and yellow light. The maiden spread its arms and the fifty bodies rapidly faded away. Then it changed once more and grew to the size of a giant. Kaji couldn't exactly focus on the odd lines and shapes of the body, but he did know that one part of the creature distinctly resembled wings.

It was gone in a flash, hurtling up through the air and beyond the violet of the sky, directly toward a black dot crawling across the red mass of the sun.

Kaji watched something like this repeat many times in his dreams. The scenarios, and the people were always different, but the beast and the green maiden were always the same.


	8. Chapter 3: Part 1

Chapter 3

Muted light radiated from the walls of the tent as Kaji gently roused from his slumber. There were whispers, then a flutter, and then silence.

His eyes were glued shut by dried tears and he needed to pry them open before he could see. The soft light stabbed into his eyes and brain, causing him to wince and shut them tight against the glare.

"It's alright," came a soft voice, "you pulled through, you're alive."

Kaji shifted his body on the soft mattress, he was hot under the thick blanket covering him. He wasn't quite sure where he was, or why he was where he was. The last he remembered he had been laying in the dark with dirt falling on his face. There had been someone with him, and something very important had been said, but his dreams were blocking his thoughts.

The dreams. What were they? They seemed so real, and yet so distantly far away. All of those people, slaughtered by some being that could change shapes. It was all so... strange.

"Kaji?" The voice was full of wonder and thankfulness. "Kaji! Thank the planet you're alive!"

"Careful, sir. His body has mostly recovered, but his left arm is... well... you already know about that. Just please be careful."

Kaji felt a pair of arms snake under his back and a face press against his bare chest. The face was damp with tears. "Kaji... oh Kaji."

Kaji cracked his eyes open and squinted down at the face on his chest, "Hey dad."

"How are you feeling?"

"I'm feeling... better." Kaji's voice was tired and there was a tightness in his stomach that he had not experienced before, "And hungry."

Palin smiled, "I'm glad son. I'm so glad. When I heard that the cliff fell on you I was sure that you were gone for good, but Rattan saved you! You owe him your life, son."

Rattan's name sparked something in the back of Kaji's mind, but he couldn't quite take hold of it yet, "How is he? Last I remember Arisa gave him a slap strong enough to remove a tooth."

"He was fine, last I heard." His father's voice had an awkward, concealing note to it. "That boy sure is something else..."

_He sure is_... "Could I get some food? I'm starving."

Ortun helped him into a sitting position and placed a wooden bowl of ostrich broth in his lap.

"Real food would be nice..." Kaji muttered dismally as he looked down at the liquid.

"Until your stomach is feeling better, you won't get anything but ostrich broth and field bread." came Ortun's reply.

"How...?" Kaji sighed, "Oh nevermind," and brought the bowl to his lips. The moment the broth touched his stomach he felt ready to retch, but somehow kept it down long enough to finish half the bowl.

Setting the bowl aside he fully opened his eyes and looked to Ortun, "So what's wrong with my arm?" He recalled Ortun warning his dad about it. His arm felt just fine.

"Outwardly... nothing is wrong with your arm," there was a tone in Ortun's voice that couldn't be placed. "Inwardly... well... nothing."

"Then... what's the problem?"

"That there's nothing wrong is, in fact, the problem."

"What?"

Palin, sitting back on his heels now to give his son room, said nothing.

"To put it simply: I didn't, and couldn't, heal your left arm." Ortun sounded vaguely perplexed, like a scientist looking at something that completely defied what he knew from the past. "Your arm should still be broken. It should never have healed, and yet it did. It healed as perfectly as if I had knit the bone and flesh together myself."

"So... that's the problem? I got better, but didn't need your help?"

Palin spoke up now, "It's not natural, Kaji. It's far from natural. We think..." he trailed off.

"You think... what?"

Palin looked at Ortun for a moment before continuing, "We suspect Rattan did something to your arm."

Kaji looked at them in turn and then broke out laughing, "You're kidding, right? I mean, Rattan couldn't do anything aside from move earth if he tried! There's no way he could have done something like this!" He brought his left arm up and waved it around. They were crazy.

"And yet... He has disappeared."

Kaji's arm stopped dead and fell to the mattress, "What do you mean... disappeared?"

"Exactly how it sounds. Once the excavation was complete he went out to hunt and then never returned. One of the other hunters tried to track him, but there was no sign of him. He had disappeared amongst the rubble, fled from the scene of his crime."

"Crime...?" Kaji was confused again. It seemed that he was almost constantly confused, recently. Ever since he started climbing that cliff his entire world had been nothing but one confusing, shifting mass.

Palin motioned to a bag that was sitting near the edge of the tent. It was Kaji's satchel. "That was laying next to you when you were found. Inside, we found a large number of glowing crystals, but there was one in particular that shocked all of us."

Connections were being made in Kaji's brain now, things that were said during his hazy moments of agony. There were still piece missing though, the main pieces to the puzzle. "What was it?"

"Lifestone, Kaji. Rattan found, collected, and kept a Lifestone."

It all clicked in Kaji's mind, and the memories of that day settled back into place. "What makes you think it was his...?" Stupid question! He wished he could take it back to moment it left his mouth.

Palin let it slide, still assuming that Kaji's head was fuzzy, "He was missing for hours before the quake. He was supposed to be out hunting in the herd, but one of his partners informed me that Rattan had gone missing early on during the hunt." Palin's sounded angry and hurt by what Rattan had supposedly done. "He was seen again only briefly by Arisa later that day, charging toward the cliff and then leaping over during the collapse. Then we find him some hours later and he escapes shortly after, leaving your satchel full of crystals and a Lifestone."

Kaji couldn't believe what Palin was saying. It was all wrong, and there were more holes in the story than in a shirt attacked by moths. Besides, the Lifestone belonged to him, not to Rattan. Kaji was about to voice that fact when Rattan's voice rang clearly in his head: "Do you realize that if anybody caught you with this you would be strung up and left for dead?"

Luckily, a mortified expression mixed with disbelief fit the situation perfectly, and was not taken as suspicious at all. "Where... where is the Lifestone now?" Kaji enquired in shock.

"You see... that's the thing. When the satchel was brought to the elders later that day to present the evidence, the stone was missing. It was not known by others that Rattan was wanted for questioning at the time, so he was able to just walk into the camp and take it. We've had several people from the clan approach us with stories of having seen Rattan in the camp around the same time it disappeared, hanging around your tent, no less."

"You kept the stone in here?"

"It was simply deposited when you were brought here for care; nobody believed that Rattan would be able to make it into the camp and out in such a short time."

_Thank you, Rattan. That's twice that you've saved my life. I'll make it up to you one day, I promise. _"I... This is too much." Kaji flopped back down to gaze at the ceiling above, "I never thought that Rattan would do something like that." It was true; he never thought that Rattan would be risking his neck like he was.

"Sometimes, son, people do things for reasons that we'll never understand." Palin was downtrodden, his gaze lingering on his feet. Rattan had been like a son to the elder. For him to suddenly turn his back as he did was... crushing.

In contrast, Kaji was trying to fight back a smile for his friend. Rattan had sacrificed his own life in the clan to give Kaji a chance to recover and escape. He offered silent thanks to his best friend for his selflessness.


	9. Chapter 3: Part 2

**A/N**

Sorry for the delayed upload of the second part of chapter 3.

* * *

The silence was broken by a voice at the door, "I heard Kaji was awake!" the flap flew open and Arisa rushed to Kaji's side, all smiles. "I thought I had lost you for good, Kaji! I'm so happy you're alive!"

"I'm glad to be alive," Kaji said with a smile.

"I'll leave you two so you can talk," Palin said as he rose, "Glad to see you awake, son."

"Glad to be awake, Dad," Kaji called after is exiting father.

"I have other patients to attend to. I will be back shortly to check up on you." Ortun quickly vacated the tent.

They were alone then. Kaji wrapped his arms around Arisa and hugged her tight, receiving the same in return from his friend. "It's so good to see you again."

"I'm so glad that you're awake! When you fell asleep I thought for a bit that you were never going to wake up again."

"Nonesense, I wouldn't die just because a mountain fell on me."

Arisa giggled, "I suppose you're right. You are pretty tough, after all. You've nearly died twice now, and both times you've come out unharmed. The planet is looking out for you, Kaji."

_I sincerely doubt that._ Kaji thought to himself. "Maybe. Or maybe it just wants me dead and I'm simply too good for it!" The sudden change in Arisa's face made him immediately follow with: "I'm joking, I'm joking! Just trying to lighten the mood, sorry."

"It's okay, I'm just glad to see that you're alright." She sat beside him hugged her knees to her chest while smiling. Kaji smiled back, and for a short while they sat in silence, savouring the moment.

A flash of light filled the tent for a moment, followed by Ortun's head, which swiftly disappeared after entering. He seemed extremely reluctant to interrupt right now.

After another short while Kaji finally approached the subject that he dreaded. "I take it you've heard about Rattan." His voice was somber and melancholy.

"Heard about him? I was there when they found the crystal!" Surprisingly, Arisa sounded angry. "I can't believe that he would do that! After all of those years of being your friend, and he tries to frame you! I bet he caused that earthquake, knowing that you would still be on the cliff, just so he could save you and use the opportunity to make it look like you did it!. I don't know why he's so damned jealous of you, Kaji, but what he did was unforgivable!"

It was shocking, hearing Arisa's point of view on the whole situation. He suspected that his father felt the same way deep down, but didn't want to admit the possibility to himself. Arisa wasn't about to try to fool herself though. She thought she knew what this whole thing was all about.

"I don't understand why he would do such a thing either." Kaji sighed. He was already getting sick of the charade that he needed to put on in order to survive. Damning the man who saved him – the man who was still saving him – was bad. Damning your best friend was even worse. It made Kaji feel dirty and unclean, but it was something that needed to be done for a bit longer. He needed to get out of that tent.

"Ugh, this tent is stifling. I need some air. Will you walk with me?"

"Of course!" She stood up and extended her hand, "let me help you up!"

Kaji was suddenly very aware that he was clad only in his underwear beneath the blanket. "Uhm... could you actually wait outside...?"

"Awww, Kaji's still uncomfortable with that?" Her voice was playfully mocking, "I'll be outside when you're ready." She smiled at him as she left and pulled the tent flaps closed.

Kaji sighed and rose shakily. His body had been subsisting on ostrich broth for an untold amount of time, leaving him weak. Spending that same amount of time on his back left his joints stiff and sore, but before long he was dressed.

He was about to leave the tent when he felt an odd tugging sensation, as if he were tied to the mattress by a string that he couldn't see. He took a step closer and the tugging disappeared. He recalled something else that Rattan said: "If this crystal gets more than seven lengths from you it just kinda disappears and goes right back to your hand." Was it there?

Kaji lifted the edge of the mattress only to find a patch of dirt glowing with a soft green light. The sneaky bugger had hidden the Lifestone right under the elder's noses, letting them think he took it. _Brilliant, Rattan, absolutely brilliant._

It wasn't buried deep, and by the time Arisa had grown impatient enough to call out the stone was excavated and safely stowed in the satchel amongst the rest of the glowing crystals.

He threw the flap open and was squinting against the sun a moment later. It felt good to be in the sun again, even if it was stinging his eyes pretty badly. Walking around felt even better. Arisa didn't find it odd that he had shouldered the satchel for their walk – he never went anywhere without it. "You never know when you might find something useful," he would often say. And if anybody saw a glow coming from the bag, he could simply open it up and show them the crystals within. It was a perfect cover for now, but it wouldn't last forever.

Kaji and Arisa talked idly as they walked through the camp and around the outskirts, simply enjoying each other's time. They stopped for a brief lunch (a lunch of real food that didn't upset Kaji's stomach at all! Stupid healer.) and then continued on their way.

"For having been bedridden for four days," Arisa commented, "you're outstandingly energetic." Kaji didn't find it strange at all. It was thrilling to finally be out in the open air again instead of stuck in a stuffy tent with a healer whose breath smelled of cheese almost constantly.

It was around that time that Kaji finally thought to mention his dreams to Arisa. He told her it was nothing, but she dragged him to several different elders to get their take on it. None of them believed that the dreams were remarkable, but were instead the product of a delirious mind in a deep sleep. Arisa apologized to each of them in turn and dragged Kaji back to the outskirts of the camp.

"You know, for having just gotten off of my deathbed you're being pretty rough with me," Kaji moaned, idly flexing the wrist Arisa had been clutching the whole time.

"Sorry. There's just something about those dreams that just don't seem right to me. I mean, those dreams were all different except for the part at the end. Different people, different circumstances of suffering, and yet that same shape-changing creature kept appearing over and over again. Don't you think that's odd?" Her tone was oddly excited.

"Well... a little... but I was unconscious and receiving healing. You've heard what that can do to some people's dreams."

"W-... True... I guess I never thought of it that way."

Kaji gave her a soft pat on the back, "It's okay, Arisa. I can see why you were so excited about it." It was true that some people had dreams that carried great significance to the future, but Kaji certainly wasn't one of those people.

Her frown turned to a weak smile after a short time, and then she turned to him. "It's getting close to dinner time! Come on, lets go eat!" She started pulling him along.

"I'd rather eat out here. If Ortun catches me eating real food so soon he might have a fit."

Arisa giggled, "Okay, I'll bring your food out here for you!" Then she trotted off.

Kaji smiled and lowered himself to the ground, opening the satchel and pulling out a handful of the glowing crystals, then scattering them on the ground in front of him. It wasn't quite like a fire, but Kaji didn't quite feel ready to call up a flame yet. He noticed that two of the crystals in the pile were not glowing at all.

Arisa returned a short while later, eyeing the crystals as she handed Kaji a heaping plate of food.

"I'll never eat all of this!" Kaji exclaimed once he saw just how much food there was.

"I bet you will..." She seemed distant. "Why the crystals?"

"I don't want to call up a flame yet. I just don't feel up to it. The crystals were just handy at the time." Kaji said after swallowing a mouthful of food.

Arisa shrugged, apparently satisfied, and started eating.

To his own surprise, Kaji did eventually manage to finish his plate of food, though afterwards he was left with the feeling that his stomach was going to explode. Arisa giggled at his discomfort and mussed his hair, telling him that he shouldn't have eaten so much. When he protested that it was her fault for bringing him such a full plate she replied: "Well you didn't have to eat ALL of it, silly!"

Kaji sputtered and was at a loss for what to say next. Arguing with Arisa was simply not worth the aggrevation sometimes. Instead he lazily lowered himself onto the soft grass and stared up at the stars.

"We should probably take you back to your bed. Ortun will have a fit if you're not there." She said, seeing his sleepy manner.

"Ortun can stuff it in his ear. I haven't seen the stars from a proper angle in a long time, I think I would rather sleep right here tonight. Besides," he turned his head and smirked at her, "I think I'm too full to move an inch without exploding."

Arisa tapped Kaji on the forehead with her plate, "fine, you win. I can't let you sleep out here alone though, it could be dangerous. I'll be right back." And off she went again before he could protest.

_Damnit Arisa, you always have to make things difficult, don't you?_ Kaji silently thought to himself as he gazed up at the stars. They looked so different from this angle, spread out in a sheet above instead of spread out in a void all around. They looked proper this way, like they belonged there instead of dancing around in an endless circle. Looking up at these stars, Kaji felt comfortable.

His guardian – that's what she was going to be this night, she told him – appeared a short while later with blankets and pillows for both of them. This was something that they used to do as kids, only Rattan was always there with them. He wasn't now though. He was off somewhere else, trying to survive on his own after giving everything up for his best friend.

The more Kaji thought about it, the more rotten he felt, and the more he wanted to turn himself in. But then that would make Rattan's sacrifice in vain, and that would make Kaji feel just as bad. He was trapped, and there was only one way out, a way that was barred that night by his other best friend.

After collecting all but one of the crystals, Arisa spread the blankets on the ground and they nestled in, lying to stare up at the stars.

"I wish Rattan were here," Arisa said suddenly, "it doesn't feel the same without him."

"I know," Kaji replied gloomily, "I miss him too."

"Why did he do it, Kaji?"

"I'm not sure, Arisa. He must have had his reasons."

"But I don't see what reason he could possibly have for framing you."

"I... I don't either. It breaks my heart to know that he would try." Kaji put as much hurt into his voice as possible.

She turned to him, "I'm just glad that he ran away. I couldn't bear to see him strung out for the lions, even after what he tried to do to you." All of the anger and hate that she felt over the last few days seemed to have evaporated. Now she was just sad.

"That's a big change of heart after that slap you gave him." Kaji chuckled softly

"I was so angry with him at first for doing all of the stuff that he did, for worrying me by leaping off the cliff after you, and then trying to frame you," she trailed off. "But now, Kaji. Now, I just miss him. I would forgive him of everything if he would just come back. That slap was the last thing he'll remember from me."

Kaji shook his head, "I doubt that's the way he feels. He probably understood why you slapped him. He probably wouldn't be upset at you for being so bad right now. Honestly, I think he isn't mad at all."

"I hope so." Was all that Arisa said before falling into silence.

Kaji didn't really know how to feel, and the silence was making him uncomfortable, "I don't know how I would have been able to take it. Him being strung up for the lions, that is. I probably would have snuck out and cut him down, just so he could go free. I... I wouldn't be able to see him die like that."

Arisa was silent. Kaji was afraid that he had said the wrong thing. Finally she spoke, "I would have gone with would have all had to run after that, because cutting him down would be just as bad as having stolen the stone ourselves, but at least we would all be together."

"Yeah... we would all be together." Kaji sighed. "It's beautiful tonight, isn't it?"

"It sure is. I haven't seen the stars so radiant in a long time."

"That's because we're always by the fires! We haven't done this in ages."

Arisa propped herself up on her elbow, "You know... you're right. Maybe we should do this more often from now on."

Kaji nodded reluctantly, not wanting to make any promises he couldn't keep, "Yeah, we should."

After that they were silent. Kaji was nearly asleep when Arisa's voice roused him, "Kaji, do you think we'll ever see Rattan again?"

Sleepily, Kaji replied, "I don't know Arisa, I really don't know." Then he was out.


	10. Chapter 4: Part 1

Chapter 4:

A/N

Okay,so the beginning of this chapter is pretty slow. Sorry about that. Kaji is finally reflecting on the stuff that has happened to him in the last few days. It picks up though, and gets pretty hectic. I just hope you all enjoy!

* * *

Kaji woke in the night after the unease of being watched roused him. Why he felt like he was being watched, he couldn't be sure. The moon was a little over half full and offered enough light to see by, and there was nobody in sight beyond the border of the camp. Try as he might, Kaji was unable to dismiss the feeling long enough to make it back to sleep.

He spent the remaining hours of the night watching the moon's progress across the sky and thinking about the sudden turn his life had taken. He hated the fact that he would need to leave his home. The very thought made his eyes water, leading him to furiously blink them away. He wouldn't cry, not over this. Kaji liked his home, but so did Rattan, and Rattan had given it all up for his best friend. How could Kaji not do the same after such an example had been set.

Another thing that kept coming to his mind was guilt over Rattan's actions. Kaji had not asked his friend to do everything that he had done, but the fact that Rattan had done them for his sake was no less difficult to deal with. Kaji's only hope for atonement was to set things straight and clear Rattan's name. He thought several plans over, but scrapped each one in turn until he finally chose the most simple of the batch.

_I'll write a letter._ Only, he would need a scribe, and anybody in the village would raise the alarm the moment he asked them to.

His eyes strayed to Arisa's sleeping form. She had said that she would run away from the village if Rattan had been left to die... but would she help clear Rattan's name while letting the real criminal go free? After everything that had passed through his mouth yesterday – all of the lies that had come so easily to his lips – Kaji had his doubts.

He would rather be caught by Arisa than anybody else, though. At least she would listen to him, and maybe even believe him too. Kaji sighed inwardly. Was that why Rattan had done everything he had? If so, Kaji hated the fact that he would go free after soiling his best friend's name, even if his best friend had thrown the dirt on himself.

Those thoughts had cycled through his head at least ten times before the first colours of daybreak began to fill the sky, and by then Kaji felt horrible. It wouldn't be long though. He would leave tomorrow night while finding some way to clear Rattan's name. That affirmation made him feel at least slightly better, well enough to rise and face the task of helping with breakfast.

There was little variety in the meals that his tribe ate. The ostrich was their main source of food – less pungent and more flavorful than chocobo – and almost every meal consisted of something to do with the animal. The meal on this morning consisted of strips of ostrich meat, ostrich eggs and hardtack. Cooking wasn't something that Kaji did with particular relish, but it was something to keep him busy and far away from the thoughts that had plagued him at night.

Arisa was awake by the time Kaji returned with two plates. Hers was modest while his was meager; his stomach still felt full after the previous night's meal.

Kaji handed Arisa her plate and took a spot beside her. She looked at him for a moment before stating, "You look like you were run over by the herd. Did you get ANY sleep last night?"

Did he really look that bad? "I... I don't really know. I woke up last night and couldn't get back to sleep." The moon was high when he woke, so he didn't get that much sleep at all.

"What kept you awake?" Arisa asked around a mouthful of food.

Telling her about the guilt would be as good as confessing, and mentioning the other feeling felt like a bad idea, so he lied. "That dream again. It woke me up and I couldn't get back to sleep." The lies were coming so easily now. He justified them by telling himself that they were for his own protection; that without those lies he would be left for the lions.

"There's something about that dream, Kaji – something that just doesn't feel right about it. I mean, why would you have the same dream over and over again if it didn't mean something?"

"I'm beginning to feel the same way, Arisa," Kaji spoke in a haunted tone. He hadn't given much thought to any real meaning behind the dreams, but the more Arisa said that they meant something, the more Kaji was beginning to believe it. "What do you think it means?"

"I don't know. That's usually not how this sort of thing works. Normally it's the person who has the dreams that is supposed to pick out the meanings locked in their dreams." She smiled at him, "I would help you if I could, but I don't know the way your mind works." She winked, "I don't think anybody could understand it." She took another mouthful of food, then asked: "What do you think it means?"


	11. Chapter 4: Part 2

Kaji was just about to respond when a figure went running by at full tilt. It was one of the forward scouts dedicated to watching the movements of the herd. Another zipped past only a few moments later. The final scout's sprint was halted by Arisa who rose and demanded to know what was happening.

"The herd, mam! The herd is on the move!"

"And all three of you need to run back to tell us that... why?" Her tone was that of a superior calling someone under her a fool.

"Mam, the herd is coming this way!" Forgetting who he was talking to, the scout sprinted off toward the village.

"The herd coming... this way?" Arisa and Kaji both turned at the distant grunting and crying of a heard of ostrich running. Only... their cries were the sounds of terror and warning.

They scrambled to their feet in unison, dumping unfinished meals to the ground and scooping up blankets before following in the wake of the three scouts.

Only moments had passed, but the mobile village was in chaos when Kaji and Arisa passed through the outer rings of tents. The elders were scattered throughout the camp barking orders to try to minimize the damage caused to their possessions.

Their efforts were futile. Nothing in the village – structures, people or tools – could withstand the power of the coming stampede.

"Come on, Arisa! We have to go!" Arisa had stopped to help another of the clan to secure a bundle to his back.

"It's my responsibility to help the people of the clan! If anyone dies, it should be me!" She screamed back at him as she moved on to help the same person with hurriedly tying bundles to their children's backs.

Kaji grabbed her arm, "All of the elders are thinking that! If you all die, who will lead us then?"

She looked at him coldly, "Others will take my place." She shook of his arm and went back to work.

"But Aris-"

"Go! Get your things!" She was running off to the aid of the next person as she yelled her orders.

Kaji just stood there, torn. Arisa had given him orders, but what he wanted to do was the exact opposite of those orders. What he wanted to do was grab Arisa by the ear and drag her kicking and screaming out of the crumbling camp.

For the first time in a long while, authority won. Something within Kaji knew that Arisa would hate him for trying to drag her away; so he ran.

His was one of the few tents left standing amongst the chaos. The rest had either been hastily packed up or knocked over in the flurry of action. Fires were once again blazing across the village, this time consuming tents, tools, and lives unhindered. There was no time to spare for putting them out.

Bursting through the flaps, Kaji was happy to see that his things had remained untouched, though it crushed him to know that he would need to leave almost all of his inventions behind.

He upended his satchel into the middle of the tent, the crystals cascading onto the ground. The lifestone fell out last, landing with a distinct _ping_ on the very top of the crystal heap; it was glowing furiously.

Kaji took no note as he went around the room like a whirlwind, gathering everything he could into his satchel. In went several small pouches of dried meat and fruit – snacks that he liked to keep stashed away for those late nights spent working – and a skin of water. His tools went next: mallet, spanner, chisel, his painstakingly made twine, and several small cutting implements, including his diamond knife, wrapped tightly in cloth. On top went one of his two changes of clothes and a travelling cloak, and his goggles.

He closed his satchel with finality and scooped up his blanket. He was about to rush back out the flap when something caught his eye. There, leaning against one of the walls, was his first failed pair of eagle's wings. He knew that they were not worth taking – that he could take so many other things that would be of such greater benefit – but they were the things that had lead to his current crowning achievement.

Those faulty wings were slung onto his back as he left.

He had only gone three paces away from his tent when the cold crystal of the Lifestone appeared into his hand underneath the blanket. He had forgotten the stone in his rush to gather everything, but it most certainly had not forgotten him.

Kaji furiously deposited the stone into his satchel as the first chorus of screams rose from the other side of the camp. His head snapped to face them, and through the smoke of the tents he could see the ostrich heard rumbling through the camp.

There was no time. People were dashing by him as quickly as they could, while a few of the hunters stayed behind and valiantly tried to halt the advance of the stampede. Their dying efforts would amount to nothing but a few extra seconds for the clan in flight. It didn't matter how many spikes or walls of earth their hunters called from the ground, the herd just kept coming.

Kaji did not freeze in terror this time, but rather started flocking with the rest of his clan, hoping vainly to outrun the crushing feet and slashing beaks of his food source.

Then he was there. On the back edge of the camp stood Rattan, like a boulder that refused to be moved by the flood. "What are you doing here?" Kaji called out to him, though his words were impossible to hear over the fast-approaching thunder.

Rattan simply beckoned to Kaji, calling him. The birds were so close now, Kaji wasn't sure if he could make it. They were so close!

Then Arisa was at Rattan's side, and a chorus of hoarse screams rose from the throats of several birds behind him. Kaji didn't even want to think of the brief pain those birds would suffer.

As soon as Kaji's hand touched Rattan's, the world went dark except for one tiny shaft of light that shone on Rattan's bronzed face pinched in concentration.

The rumble of the passing herd sounded like thunder through the walls of their stone shelter, a constant reminder that the only thing between them and certain death was Rattan's ability to hold his focus.

The time passed in terror, waiting for the sound of cracking stone that would herald an early return to the planet.

That sound never came, and the thunder of the passing herd finally faded to a distant rumble. As soon as it was safe, Rattan swooned and collapsed to the ground.

Kaji and Arisa on their knees in an instant, "He's burning up!" Kaji exclaimed as he touched Rattan's arm. He felt like he had just come out from a bed of coals.

Arisa was already handling it though, and after a few moments a patch of ice formed under Rattan's prone body. She was one of the few in their clan that could summon water and ice. Doing so in the dry heat of summer was difficult, but no amount of difficulty could be to much for the one who just saved her life. "Wake up Rattan," she was gently shaking his arm and tapping his face, "wake up!"

"He's out, Arisa. I couldn't imagine how difficult it was to hold that barrier against the stampede." _And so soon after protecting me! _Kaji couldn't even begin to imagine the amount of energy Rattan had expended to keep the thousands of tons of stone from crushing them while waiting to be rescued. In fact, now that he thought about it, Rattan shouldn't have been able to do that at all, let alone with such ease!

He looked down at his unconscious friend. _What secrets are you hiding from me, Rattan?_

After another while, the distant thunder faded. Kaji dared not take his eyes off Rattan's tired features. He knew what he would see when he lifted his head. The mere thought made his stomach turn and tears run freely from his eyes.

Arisa felt the same way. She wrapped her arms around his neck and buried her face into his shoulder. The last week had been so traumatic for her. First, she nearly lost her two best friends, then discovered that one was the worst criminal in the history of their clan, and then lost that clan to a freak stampede. In short: She was a wreck, and Kaji understood.

He hugged her as she sobbed, his own sobs stifled but his tears flowing freely as they sat under the hot morning sun. Distantly Kaji heard the cries of the carrion birds overhead.


	12. Chapter 4: Part 3

"It didn't need to come to this."

"Then why did it?" Kaji shouted with all the power he could muster.

Astonished by his sudden outbreak, Arisa let Kaji go. "Kaji, what's wrong?"

"I..." That voice... it wasn't Arisa's.

"Child, it didn't need to come to this."

"Kaji!" Arisa's face paled as she was looking behind him.

That feeling of being watched returned abruptly, and Kaji already knew what he would see when he turned around. There, behind him, on the field of the decimated camp, surrounded by fluttering and arguing carrion birds, stood the creature of stone.

"Then why did it?" Kaji shouted again, this time at the thing.

"You surely didn't think that you would escape me so easily, did you?" The voice spoke directly into his head.

Arisa was looking at him as if he had gone insane. "Kaji... what's wrong?"

He ignored her, "Why did it have to come to this! Why, when you could have so easily taken me last night?" Before Kaji had been terrified. Now he was furious.

"To teach a lesson child; to teach that nobody escapes the wrath of a guardian, and that our rules must be upheld."

"I didn't even know I was breaking any rules! I don't even remember breaking it! How can you punish me if I don't remember it!" There was despair in his voice now, and Arisa was silently backing away.

"Nobody is exempt from our rules." The feminine voice had not changed this entire time. It was unphased by Kaji's anger; it didn't care that it had just taken two hundred lives. "Now, give me the stone, child."

Kaji snatched the Lifestone from his satchel. "What's so damn special about these stones anyway? Why does it matter who has them and who doesn't?"

"If I told you, I would need to send you to the planet before your time." There was a sneer contained in those words. A sneer at his ignorance.

"Kaji, you bastard!" Arisa screamed with righteous fury. "You... you... how could you?"

"Damnit, Arisa. I don't even remember taking this thing! If I had known, I would have given it back and none of this would have happened!" Kaji was shouting over his shoulder. Arisa had collapsed to her knees and was pounding the ground in anger.

"Give me the stone, Kaji." There was force in those words, a force that Kaji had not felt before. Something deep within him resonated with those words and compelled him to obey.

"Why... why should I give it to you?" Even as he spoke, Kaji felt his defiance faltering.

"Because, child, if you do not, the lessons will continue." Now the feminine voice was cold and slithering. "Give me the stone. I will not ask again."

"I... Ah..." He felt his feet shuffling forward of their own accord. "But... you killed my family and my friends. W- why should I give you what you want?" There was no defiance left in him. He was walking forward even as his lips spoke those words.

"I already told you, child. Now stop dallying and _give me the stone._" The force was so powerful that it set Kaji running.

He only made one running step when he suddenly wasn't able to take another. Casings of stone sprang out of the earth and wrapped themselves around his legs, preventing even the smallest motion.

"You mean to play games, child? Even at a time like this, you play games? Very well." The blue-eyed gaze turned on Arisa.

"Come, child." the voice projected itself into Arisa's mind. She stared at the thing for several moments in absolute shock before she rose from her knees to comply.

Kaji screamed with panic, "Arisa! No! Please, oh no!" He turned to face the stone creature, "Okay, okay, I'll give you the stone! Just please don't hurt Arisa!"

"That time has passed child. You chose to play games, now you must be punished."

Casings of stone reached up from the earth and wrapped themselves around Arisa's legs. The glazed look in her eyes suddenly disappeared as the control of the creature faded.

The voice in Kaji's head sounded like a scream. "I have had enough of your games, child." Arisa's screams filled his mind a moment later. "You cannot use the planet to defy its guardians, child."

Arisa's screams stopped as abruptly as they started, and she slumped to the ground as the casings were removed from her legs.

"What...?" The voice was mystified now.

Kaji felt a hand on his shoulder. "Kaji. Don't worry buddy, I've got ya." It was Rattan. He sounded exhausted.

"You, child," the voice projected into Rattan's mind, "dare to challenge a guardian?"

"Lady... I don't care what you are," a crystal fell at his feet and his voice sounded stronger, "but you're hurting my friends. I'm a hunter of the Osic clan. I know no fear, and no beast has ever bested me." Two more crystals fell at Rattan's feet. He sounded as if he was back to his normal self.

Kaji's mind was boggled. He didn't understand what was happening. How had Rattan recovered so quickly, and why was he now challenging a guardian of the planet? Was he really that suicidal?

The bonds around Kaji's legs sank back into the earth. "Run, get down the cliff and to the forest." Kaji stared at Rattan as if he had grown two heads, "I'll be right behind you, don't worry." Rattan held out his hand.

"Are you sure about this?" Kaji asked?

"I'm already fighting it." To punctuate the point, another crystal fell at Rattan's feet. "Go, I'm not sure how long I can fight it. It's much stronger than I thought, and growing stronger." The earth was starting to shudder.

Pure awe crossed Kaji's face before he started running. He paused only long enough to scoop Arisa into his arms. The cliff was only several spans ahead. There was no way to climb down it with Arisa in his arms. His only option was the wings that had failed him before. Still, he needed to try.

He didn't even stop when he reached the edge of the cliff; he just jumped right off and started falling. Holding Arisa with one arm he pulled the release for the wings with his other. They didn't stick as his newly destroyed pair had, but the wood creaked and groaned the moment they were extended. It wasn't enough. They were falling too quickly. At this rate they were going to end up as Kaji was supposed to in the beginning.

The Lifestone, still clutched in Kaji's left hand forgotten because it felt so right, dimmed considerably and began to give off a gentle heat. The falling slowed, and soon the falling stopped altogether, then they were gently gliding along on an invisible current of air.

Kaji didn't understand how it was happening, but so much had happened in the last few days beyond his understanding, he was just going to go with the flow.

He had always expected to be beyond elated when he first achieved flight, but now the moment seemed... empty.

In the distance, nearly a kilometer back, the cliff exploded, and Kaji felt a stab of pain in his heart.

Rattan... was gone.

* * *

A/N

Overall, a pretty dark and heavy chapter. Not much to say at this point, I guess. Only that the darkness will become a bit brighter in the next few chapters. Well... I hope, but this story in itself is pretty dark, heavy and tragic.

Oh, and this chapter totally didn't turn out how I originally wanted it to. It's wierd how stories can do that some times.


	13. Chapter 5: Part 1

Chapter 5:

A/N

Disclaimer:The characters of FFVII are the sole property of Square Enix (I forgot that I didn't add that in before)

Time for a change of pace! Remember Winny (Aka: Poppy) from the prologue? We're taking a trip back to 'present day' Edge to see what all is going on. You can expect a few of these 'flash-forwards' scattered through the story. I'm trying to keep things accurate, but I have to make a few assumptions as far as ego-stigma goes, and the state of things about six months before the events of ACC. If I'm off about anything, feel free to let me know!

* * *

It had been a little over a month since Winny's mother began telling her the story. Winny couldn't understand some parts, and many of the parts were a little too dark for the average child's sensibilities at the young age of seven, but she listened with rapt attention as her mother spoke. Most times the stories brought on dreams while she slept, bringing the story to life and etching it into her mind.

Despite the darkness in the story that Winny would rather forget, she stayed true to her mothers wishes and did everything needed to keep that story fresh and well-kept, often staying up late after her mother had left to write it down.

Of course, in these dark times there needed to be some light, so Winny's mother would take a break from telling the story sometimes, and tell her a much happier and more fanciful tale. Those were the sorts of stories that a young girl of seven should have been listening to and enjoying, but Winny often found herself wanting to ask about the other story.

Fantasy was nice, but there was something in the other story that had Winny glued to it.

School was growing emptier and emptier by the day, and soon only half of the children in her class were left. Her teacher told her that they were getting sick, and that she should pray for them to get better. "Pray to the Goddess and ask her to cure this terrible sickness," she would say. "If enough people, especially young people, ask the Goddess will answer."

Who was the Goddess? Winny didn't know. She had never heard of a Goddess before. The only thing there had ever been was the planet, and now Winney was beginning to doubt it too. Why would the planet kill her own children just for a stone?

"Hi Daddy!" Winney called as she walked through the door of her family's general store.

"Hey, Poppy. How was school today?" Her dad asked from behind the counter.

She crossed the store and plunked her small schoolbag down on the floor before going to hug her dad. "Dawn and Xavier weren't at school today," Winny mumbled into her father's stomach, "They're sick."

Her father dropped down to one knee, "They were your friends, weren't they?" He asked her as he wrapped her in his arms.

"Yeah," a single tear rolled from her big, dark eyes, "the only friend I have left at school is Allie, and she says that her mommy might not let her go to school anymore. I won't have anybody to play with, if that happens." She gave a little sigh, "Nobody wants to play anymore anyway."

Her father stroked her dark red hair, "It's okay sweetie. It'll all be over soon. The news says they have lots of scientists working on a cure, and that people should stop getting sick soon because the lifestream is going back into the planet. Soon everybody will be laughing and playing again, just like before."

From what he knew, the words were true. Her father believed what the news said again, now that Shinra had lost face and had largely fallen from power. The press and news were free again, and there were all sorts of up-lifting reports coming from science labs all across the world regarding a cure for Geostigma.

Winny let go of her dad with a soft, "I hope so," and took her place behind the counter when the bell on the front door rang.

"Mr. Halloway," a smooth voice spoke from the front of the store in greeting.

Her father turned to the entrance, "Ahh, Cloud, you're earlier than I expected."

Cloud simply nodded and gave a brief 'hmm' before crossing the store to the counter. "You had a package for me to deliver?"

"Ahh, yes." He turned to Winny, "Poppy, would you run in the back and grab the package off the table for daddy?"

At first Winny didn't hear what her father had said. She was too busy gawking at Mr. Cloud. He came to the store often, always running deliveries for her daddy, and every time he did, her reaction was the same. No matter how often he came, she would never get used to being in the presence of one of the heroes from her mommy's stories.

Her dad gently pinched Winny's cheek, "Poppy?"

"Oh. Right daddy. I'll go get it," and she ran off to the back room.

The package wasn't on the table where her dad said it would be. It wasn't with the boxes of stuff for the store either, or on his desk. She couldn't find the package anywhere downstairs. "Maybe he meant the table upstairs," she thought to herself and ran up the stairs to their apartment above the shop.

It only took a bit of looking to find it. It wasn't on the counters or on the table, but on one of the chairs in their dining room.

Knowing that she had taken a lot longer than she should have, Winny ran as fast as she could down the stairs while doing her best not to shake the package. Her daddy sometimes had Mr. Cloud deliver some pretty breakable stuff, so she needed to be careful.

"Found it!" she cried as she rushed through the back room and skidded to a stop just before the counter. She turned to her daddy, "It wasn't in the back room, silly. It was upstairs on a chair."

Her father's voice was downcast, "Oh, sorry Poppy. I must have forgotten it there this morning."

"It's okay! You're busy. You can't remember everything." Her voice trailed off at the end, catching her father's sudden dour mood.

"Same place as always, Mr. Halloway?" Cloud asked in his smooth voice.

"Same place, Cloud." Winny's father opened the register and handed Cloud a few bills, "Extra, for having to wait so long."

Cloud waved the money away and picked up the package, "It's alright, Mr. Halloway. A few minutes doesn't hurt." Then he turned and left.


	14. Chapter 5: Part 2

Winny turned to her Father, "You look so sad, daddy. Is everything alright?"

He absently mussed Winny's hair as he stared at the door for a long time, "I'm okay, Poppy." He forced a smile for his daughter's sake.

"Mr. Cloud always looks so sad. Is he alright?"

"He has a lot on his mind, Poppy. That's all." He turned to her, "why don't you go wash up, sweetie. Mommy should be home soon."

"Okay!" Winny said with a beaming smile and then ran off upstairs, schoolbag forgotten.

Winny scrubbed up as fast as she could, but her mother was still home before she finished.

"Mommy!" Winny cried as she came downstairs and rushed into her mother's waiting arms.

"Hey there honey." Her mom said gently, ruffling Winny's hair. "How was school today?"

Winny gave her mom the same story, telling her all of the things that were important to a seven year-old.

"Did you learn anything today?"

"Nope! I never learn anything at school." Typical seven year-old.

"Well, at least that hasn't changed. Are you hungry?"

"Starving!" Winny exclaimed.

"Then lets go eat," her mother said with a smile.

They closed the shop for an hour and went upstairs to sit at their small table to eat as a family. "I brought food home tonight. I wasn't feeling up to cooking, and I knew we would be eating late if I did."

Bringing home food was a relatively new thing that had started only a few months ago. At first, it had only been once a week – as a treat her mommy would say. From then on the meals became more frequent, until her mommy was bringing home four meals a week. This was their third this week, and it was only thursday.

Poppy wasn't complaining though. She liked the food from outside, and mommy always brought home all sorts of different stuff. Tonight mommy brought home Wutaian food.

"How was work today, Darling?" Her father asked over dinner.

"It was tiring, but everything got done. There were a lot of orders to deal with today, and several shipments ended up in the wrong spots, but we got it all sorted out, and our world is in good order." She chuckled, "at least until tomorrow."

Winny's mom worked at a company that sent stuff all over the world. It was part of the WRO, she said. Winny was proud that her mom worked for the WRO. They were trying to make the world a better place.

Before that, she had worked for Shinra as an accountant.

"How was the store today, dear?"

"Not as busy as I had hoped. Business is slipping, but I guess that can only be expected with the way things are going. Still, I'm hoping that things will pick up again soon." He smiled at her from across the table, "I think you should enjoy your day off tomorrow. I can look after the store. You just take the day and relax." He reached out and clasped his wife's hand.

"Oh honey, you know I'll go crazy if I'm not working. The store gives me something to fill my days with."

"Just relax tomorrow. A days rest won't kill you." He smiled softly.

"Oh alright." Winny's mother said, almost dejectedly.

The rest of the meal passed with idle chatter, and the evening passed quietly. Winny spent her time drawing and quietly playing while her father watched the news and her mother dozed on his shoulder.

Then it was story time, and Winny hopped into bed in anticipation.

"Are you going to tell me about the Ancients again, mommy?" Arisa asked her mother expectantly.

"I am, Poppy." She said as she pulled the chair up next to her daughter's bed. "Now where did I leave off last time?"

Her mother knew, but she always asked to make sure that Winny was paying attention, "Kaji was flying away with Arisa."

"That's right." Her mother took a small sip of water and shifted in her chair, shuffling her feet and fixing Winny's blankets.

"Mommy," Winny began quietly, "is the planet evil?"

Her mother wasn't shocked by the question. In fact, she had been expecting it for a long time now. "No Poppy, the Planet isn't evil. It just does things sometimes because her children are being bad. Parents aren't evil just because they discipline their children, right?" She asked her daughter gently.

Winny shook her head.

"It's the same way with the Planet. Just because she's disciplining her children doesn't make her evil."

"But why does she need to be so mean? Why does she need to hurt so many people?"

"When adults need discipline, Poppy, sometimes fear and hurt are they only things they listen to and remember."


End file.
